1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for switching an antenna in a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for switching an antenna in a portable terminal having a plurality of antennas in which an appropriate antenna is selected among the plurality of antennas to form a wireless path depending on a circumstance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the advancement of information and communications technology and semiconductor technology, the distribution and use of a portable terminal is rapidly growing. In addition, the portable terminal has become commonplace in a modern life. Such portable terminal provides various functions. For example, the portable terminal provides not only a general mobile communication service such as voice calls or messages but also various features including a TeleVision (TV) feature (e.g., mobile broadcasting such as Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)), music playback (e.g., Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3 (MP3)), a camera feature, a data communication feature, an Internet feature, and a location information service feature. Particularly, the portable terminal recently provides multiple wireless communication functions such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) function, a Bluetooth function, a Wi-Fi function and a Wireless Broadband (WiBro) function.
The portable terminal is equipped with a plurality of antennas to provide a variety of wireless communication services as described above. For example, the portable terminal can include a mobile communication antenna for providing a mobile communication service, a GPS antenna for receiving a GPS signal, a Bluetooth antenna for enabling Bluetooth communication, a Wi-Fi antenna for enabling Wi-Fi communication, and a WiBro antenna for enabling WiBro communication.
Meanwhile, the above antennas have characteristics such that a resonance frequency thereof is changed when a metal component or a human body is adjacent thereto. This is problematic because a wireless performance is degraded when the resonance frequency is shifted. To address this problem, the above antennas are typically mounted in a location that does not often come into a contact with a user's body. However, as the portable terminal is equipped with a plurality of antennas, it becomes nearly impossible to mount all the antennas onto a part of the portable terminal that does not often come into the contact with the user's body. Accordingly, the portable terminal of the related art has a problem in that, when gripped by the user, the wireless performance of the antenna is degraded. Also, the portable terminal of the related art has a problem of inefficiency in that a plurality of antennas are equipped with the portable terminal and several antennas have a similar frequency band. Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to efficiently utilize an antenna while preventing the degradation of the wireless performance in a portable terminal having a plurality of antennas.